aterat | Open September Log

Who; Mono & Anyone
What; Mono found a new friend!
Where; The Park
When; Early September
Warnings; None
Note; I can match action brackets if preferred, or write more personalized starters if you want one. Just let me know!

A boy and his… moth? - OTA

When it came to days where he wasn’t working or practising with his abilities, Mono found that he really enjoyed the park. Sometimes he enjoyed to sitting by the pond and watching frogs or sharing bread with the local ducks that gathered nearby. If he was lucky and wandering the paths, he might meet someone who had a pet with them and they’d be okay with him giving them some friendly pets or give them a treat. Pets were always something of a curiosity for the boy. He’d met so many in the last few years! They were all so different. Different kinds, different personalities... It was always neat to meet a new one and see what people liked to keep them company.

Occasionally he wondered what it would be like to have a fuzzy friend himself, especially with Nida and Ignis’s pets or meeting Rhy’s bunnies… But he was always a bit afraid of if he'd be a good pet-parent or not, considering the responsibility and how crushing it might be if the creature he got attached to suddenly decided it disliked him...

Fate was a funny thing, though, and the universe sometimes liked to throw a surprise or two at you. For Mono, one crossed his path on one of the days he spent wandering around the park. The boy was walking around a bush when he was greeted by a large fluffy, fluttering moth creature with big curious eyes and a playful demeanour. It made Mono stop short for a moment with a little start of surprise. “Wow... You’re so fluffy, and big, and cute!!” The child murmured in awe at its soft white appearance, tilting his head one way and another as the oversized moth mimicked his head’s movement in midair playfully. “You remind me a little of something I saw in my world, but less sad! Where’d you come from…?” And then, a little more cautiously. “You’re friendly, right?”

The creature had no answer beyond a slight, quiet squeak. Mono considered the not-quite-answer carefully, before he decided that it was safe enough. It was just so cute, and it seemed really excited to see him! It had to be nice, right? So he reached out carefully, just to test the waters a little. With a couple of gentle pats to the soft, fluffy thorax behind its head, he found it fluttering closer to flutter around his head. “H-hey that tickles!” He giggled a little as it brushed by a cheek, and he shook his head. Yup, definitely friendly! So, he guessed that meant he made a new friend, right? A friend he didn’t know the name of, but still a friend!

Now begged the question, what did you do with a giant moth friend…? Admittedly, Mono wasn’t sure. He doubted they were like the animals he learned about here. Tilting his head curiously, he addressed his friend with a curious little chirp. “Do you like to play? Or do you wanna go for a walk? I know people take their fuzzy creatures for walks sometimes or play at the park.” He tapped his chin. “Except Mr. Rhy’s bunnies, I think they just explore their hutch. But I don’t think you would like that, ‘cause you can fly and all and your wings are so big.”

The creature, if given words, would probably agree with that. She’s much too big and fluttery for small spaces. Mono also couldn’t forget how sad the confined ones had been in his world. So... Decision made! “Okay, let’s go explore the rest of the park! Maybe we can find stuff you like or find snacks. I wonder what you eat...” He mused to himself, as he started walking and his new friend fluttered along in the air next to him, offering the odd friendly squeaking sound in return to the boy’s musings.

Probably made for an interesting sight to anyone nearby who happened to see the two playing around the park. Either playing an odd game of hide and seek or climbing trees and enjoying the view and a little rest while puzzling over what to do about snacks.

(Well, one of them climbed. The other was fluttering around to find a branch to land on to keep an eye on the other.)

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Mono scuffed his foot awkwardly. That was a good question. “I dunno, not really anyone that I would.” There were a lot of kids. He worked with many of them! And he liked them well enough… But he wasn’t particularly close to them. It had gotten a bit hard for the boy to get close and to seek out other kids since his time back in his world. In fact, the amount of people he trusted properly could be counted on one hand. Each of them was one of the adults that looked out for him here.

Being dropped into an abyss and abandoned by the kid that was your best friend you trusted with your life made it a bit hard to be willing to form those kinds of connections.

The moth, on the other hand, reminded him of the ones that had been trapped and had a bad time themselves. They were quiet and didn’t judge if he said weird things like some kids might around here, or ask questions that had scary answers. It seemed fairly innocent.

The offer gets a skeptical little rise of the kid’s brow. “Don’t adults got stuff to do?”

"Yeah, but I'm not working today," Zack points out. If he was, would he be here? He'd be with the chocobos. And since Cloud and Aerith are working, he doesn't have a choice. He's got to do something, you know? It's the best plan he's got.

"Besides, I haven't gotten to play in so long."

Mono vaguely wondered how long ‘so long’ was. Was he that old that he hadn’t been a kid in that long? Or did he make a habit of playing and just hadn’t had time? Who knew! Another weird adult that he didn’t think he quite understood.

“What kinda games do you know how to play?” He asked with a tilt of his head, before continuing. “And even if you did, I won’t make my moth friend leave.” Just so Zack knew, that seemed a fair thing to warn.

"Well, in Gongaga we used to do a lot of tag and hide and seek. Those were our favorites. Of course we had the whole swamp to play in and around."

And no, he wouldn't make the moth leave. Clearly.

Mono’s nose wrinkled visibly at that. “I don’t like swamps…” He had very bad experiences in a swampy area, unfortunately.

“I know how to play both those games, though. I’m really good at hide and seek, and I’m okay at tag.” The moth was better at tag, given it had the advantage of flight. But hide and seek was definitely Mono’s forte, given how used to hiding he was in general. It had been kinda funny to learn that it was actually a game kids played for fun here.

"Yeah, me either. There are reasons I left," he said with a sigh.

But he had made do with what he had. And there had been plenty of interest when it came to the Touch-Mes. A whole other form of tag that one.

"You ever get turned into a frog to play tag. It's really weird but it's a lot of fun too."

Of the many horrific things Mono has dealt with in his world, he actually had the rare luck of not running into one of the beings who turned kids into things.

“Nope, never been a frog. I watch the ones here sometimes. They’re kinda cute.” That was not important, of course, but the boy thought it was worth noting. “I don’t think we could play that kinda tag, though. Unless you know how, but I’d have to be turned back before I go home. ‘cause I don’t know if frogs can eat dinner at the table.” He wouldn’t want to miss dinner with his family!! Not when the food was so good!

"They're less cute to be," Zack says with a shrug. Though he supposed some people must like it. Just not him. "We can't play that here. I don't have the spells for it, and there aren't any Touch-Mes around. So it's okay not to play that."

But it was good the kid had a family that was taking care of him.

Mono was definitely okay with not being a frog, and he was okay with taking Zack’s word on the idea that they were less cute to be one than they were to watch. “Then we’ll have to play a regular game, then.”

Mono had an excellent family to live with, as well as great people who looked out for him or taught him things, in his opinion. Life was… way better here than it was in his own world, even if it was awkward because of that sometimes.

"Alright. What regular games do you like?"

Because Zack didn't know a lot. Not ones that would transfer to a city actually. Country boys found country boy sorts of fun and those usually involved going on 'adventures' or playing at heroes.

“Hm…” He tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Hide-and-seek.” Of course, he’d choose that. It would be interesting to see how good at playing Zack was. “Do you wanna hide or do you wanna seek?”

Was the child testing him just a smidge? Yes, but it was an innocent kind of test and a fun one. He only just met the guy after all, and it was weird to not have any ideas about someone after all this time. He usually followed people to see what they were like, out of caution.

"I might be a bit big to be an effective hider," he says.

At least without going into places that a kid logically shouldn't be able to get and Zack wouldn't be able to get to quickly were it not for his Soldier enhancements.

Admittedly, he’s not dealing with a particularly ordinary child, but that was nice of him to consider. The boy was happy to be the hider though, and he offered his tilted clumsy little grin. “Okay, then that makes you the seeker instead! So, um… I’ll hide and you can search. I’ll stay in the park, so it’s more fair.” He added at the end, because if they expanded to the city, then that might be too much ground to cover and too many potential options. He wanted to be found before dinner time, after all.

"Alright then," he agrees with a nod before sitting himself down on the ground. He puts his face against his knees to block his vision, and covers his ears as well so his enhanced senses don't give him an edge.

And while Zack is counting, Mono sets to finding a place to hide. Making his way quietly away from the clearing where they’d been talking and towards the more crowded, forested area where there would be more places to hide.

When Zack's done counting he finally gets to his feet. He looks around. Nothing immediately. Okay, time to get this done. He's got to find the kid.

And for now he's going to follow his ears. Seems the best way to do it given his enhancements.

And Mono was hidden away, having wriggled into the hollow of a log, carefully keeping himself ducked away and out of sight. He stayed quiet and waited for signs of Zack bringing his search to this part of the park.

Zack smiles, wide and excited, and sets out. Time to see if he could still win.

Open September Log

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wrap this up soon?

Yeah we can probs fade out here while they’re playing since it’ll be a while lol

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